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The Worlds Most Interesting Bike Race

COMES TO JAPAN OCTOBER 12

Voted “Event of the Year” by the Design and Innovation Awards committee, Grinduro expanded into four countries in 2019. The unique format of Grinduro combines the best elements of a mountain bike enduro with a gravel grinder-style road race. Festivities include two days of excellent food, a handmade bike show, an art exhibit, live music and camping.

Brought to you by Giro Sport Design, Rapha, Maxxis and Fabric with Japan Hosted by Salsa Cycles.

Race Categories

Format

In short, Grinduro is just what the name suggests: Gravel Road Race + Mountain Bike-Style Enduro = Two different loops of pavement and dirt, where finishing times aren’t based on overall time, but four timed segments.

The course is a serious affair (2000m of climbing in 80km) but the Grinduro isn’t meant to be a sufferfest. We’ve linked together some of our favorite local roads in a quiet corner of Shin'ets Area.

The course features a mix of surfaces (smooth pavement, gravel and single track)

Japanese mountain is quite steep and rough gravel and trail.

With a mass start from Madarao Mountain Resort. Overall time doesn’t matter, only the four timed segments. The Grinduro segments are designed to reward the most well rounded of rouleurs.

For those seeking more party than race we offer the Grindurito, a half distance class. At 40km long and with 1000m of climbing and with just two timed segments.

But Grinduro is not just a bike race. It’s a celebration of cycling with as much emphasis on the fun as the ride, with excellent food, an impressive display of art and incredible handmade bikes, live music, camping and a festival atmosphere.

Awards

Recommended Gear

THE BEST BIKE: You can ride any type of pedal-driven bicycle (no electric-pedal assist!), although we recommend a gravel, cyclocross or mountain bike for the Grinduro course. The ultimate setup is probably a disc brake-equipped gravel bike with high-volume tubeless clincher tires. However, at times a mountain bike is the better choice if you just want to enjoy the rough descent down Mt. Madarao.

Be prepared with at least two extra tubes, a multi-tool and a mini-pump.

A WORD OF WARNING: It’s rough and sometimes steep in the mountains here in Japan and the course in Madarao. If you come out on your road bike, you’re almost guaranteed to end up finishing on foot, if at all. We strongly recommend you bring a pair of SPD shoes. If you wear a pair of SPD-SL shoes, you’ll have a terrible experience when you hike a bike or cross a river.

We’ll be at 1000m above sea level in the fall with lovely colorings in the leaves, so bring layers—ideally arm/leg warmers and a jacket—just in case weather rolls in.

There will be feed zones, but smart riders will bring at least two water bottles and their favorite nutritional supplies.

Camping

Got a Tent? Campers are all welcome! If you’re registered to the event, a camping fee for 1 tent is included at no additional charge. Note: No outlets are provided. You can drop your gear near your site but have to move your vehicle when you’re done. You can’t park your vehicle by your site.

Are your friends and family joining You? You should bring your friends and family to the Grinduro! Make sure they get the Friends & Family Campsite pass. This pass costs ¥3000 for the whole weekend (Friday 1PM thru Sunday beforenoon) and includes a site for 1 tent with up to 4 people. You can purchase the pass on the registration link.

Got an Adventuremobile? If you plan to camp with your vehicle, you need to book a space on the registration link.
The auto-campsite is 5 min away from the Village.http://www.madarao.jp/camp

Excellent Food

We believe that bike riders’ health, attitude and performance is directly related to the foods that they eat, so we have amazing food planned for the weekend. Saturday’s breakfast, lunch and dinner are all included with race entry. For the rest of the weekend we will have various vendors on site selling food.

Rules of the road

The Grinduro course features a blend of pavement, dirt road, gravel road and singletrack.

Riders must obey all applicable traffic laws during the event and are encouraged to use common sense, keep their head up and stay in their lane of travel. At no time will there be a closed road.

Once the route changes to dirt road, riders must obey all traffic laws and use common sense, keeping their speed under control.And keep safe distance on each rider.

Riders should expect vehicle traffic on all roads, along with car,motorcycles, wild animals. Stay in your lane and follow the rules of the road.

Bicycle and car should ride on the left side. they must ride as far left as possible in single formation. This applies to both the pavement and dirt sections.

More rules and common sense:

Be cool, have fun and enjoy the ride. Those are the rules!
For those of you who need things spelled-out, here you have it…

All riders are required to wear an approved helmet and cannot remove it at any time while riding.

No support or follow vehicles are allowed. Aid stations will be well stocked and able to handle participant’s needs.

Riders must ALWAYS obey traffic laws and strictly obey any law enforcement persons or official ride personnel. In the interest of your own safety, you should always assume the same level of vigilance in riding your bike during the event that you would under normal circumstances.

Headphones/ear buds are NOT permitted during a ride.

Riders must respect the directions of all course marshals at all times. If you’re told to stop by a course marshal, moto official, uniformed officer or otherwise, YOU MUST STOP!

All riders must attend the “riders’ meeting” held at the staging area 15 minutes prior to the event.

The responsibility of keeping on the prescribed course rests with the rider. A rider may not leave the prescribed course unless escorted by public authorities or a ride official.

Shortcutting and/or cutting trail switchbacks or course is not permitted and may result in disqualification. A rider is required to stay on the designated route. It is the rider’s responsibility to know the designated ride route. Lack of tape or barriers will not constitute an excuse for cutting the course.

Laws and ordinances of appropriate jurisdictions shall be observed during participation in the event.

A rider may be disqualified for damaging or destroying public or private property. A rider may be held liable for all cost associated with the damage or destruction.

Grinduro officials reserve the right to make changes to the course, delay start times and/or postpone the event as necessary for safety or security purposes or at the request of permit issuers.

Isle of Arran

The Isle of Arran is known as “Scotland in Miniature,” with more than 60 miles of rugged coastline, atmospheric woodland, soaring peaks, historic ruins and trails aplenty. Arran is quickly becoming one of the UK’s must ride destinations, with trails ranging from steep and technical to fast and flowing. In other words, it’s the perfect location to host the Grinduro.